THE FIRST ever footage of Russia’s new hallucination-inducing strobe gun has been broadcast on the Russian Defence Ministry’s channel.

The weapon, the Filin 5P-42, is said to serve as a protective shield that causes neurological symptoms in its targets, including hallucinations and nausea. The video depicts the strobe weapon firing of blinding bursts of light from a Russian navy ship in the Gulf of Finland. Filin translates to ‘eagle-owl and is reportedly capable of neutralizing scopes, laser position finders and the aiming systems of guided missiles, and of blinding enemy personnel at a distance of up to five kilometres.

It works at night and in the twilight, but the Russian manufacturer Roselectronica is currently working on a device that will be as effective during daytime as well.

Many of those, who witnessed the device in action, have indeed said that they saw “a light patch constantly drifting before their eyes, causing an almost hallucinating effect.

Most spoke about dizziness, nausea and disorientation,” Vladimir Zharov, a department head at the Ruselectronics plant, told Zvezda.